


How Does Your Religious Background Affect Your Relationships?

by softbutchjirou



Category: SKAM (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Blind Date, Fluff, M/M, Tell Your Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-24 18:13:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13816689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softbutchjirou/pseuds/softbutchjirou
Summary: “So, why are you here today?”“Um, well, I think it’ll be really interesting to see how this goes. It’s a cool idea. I- I don’t know. I wouldn’t expect to meet the love of my life here or anything but it’s a fun experiment and I can’t help but wonder what kind of… bullshit I’ll come up with if all I have for reference to my answers is the other person’s face. It sounds fun. I’m excited.”-“Why are you here, Jonas?”“You promised me 20 bucks for showing up.”A fic inspired by the Tell Your Story series.





	How Does Your Religious Background Affect Your Relationships?

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired by SoulPancake's Tell Your Story series. Here's a video of theirs if you haven't seen it before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InJ6hB4UsHA

“Hold up, Even is doing what now?”

Isak rolls his eyes. “Blind date. Answer fill in the blank questions about the other person. Then they tell you the right answers and you fall in love and run off into the sunset together.”

Jonas snorts. “Fucking hell, is he that short on volunteers? Why don’t you get someone that’s actually looking for love, huh?”

“Maybe you’re looking for love and just don’t know it, huh?”

Jonas throws a fry in Isak’s face. Isak throws the same fry back, which lands in Jonas’s hair.

“Fuck off, Isak.”

“Jonas, please. I’ll pay you.”

There’s a long pause before Jonas signs and mutters out, “Alright.”

 

 

The lights go up and Jonas is taken aback. This boy is pretty. His hair hangs a little past his shoulders, flowy and glistening in the studio light, a little overgrown. He smiles like his happiness doesn’t quite fit inside him, crinkly eyes and all, and Jonas feels himself grin right back. He should feel nervous - worried about the sole of his left shoe peeling off or something along those lines, but he just feels warm.

“Hi,” he says. He has to guess what this guy’s name is, right? It’s not like anybody actually gets that right. Jonas decides Prettyboy McWarmsmile’s name is Marcus.

“Hey,” he says back.

He decides that Marcus doesn’t suit him. Then he changes his mind five more times within the second.

“You guys ready?” Even calls out from the back.

Jonas glances up and sees not-Marcus tap out a rhythm on the back of his clipboard. His nails are painted bright orange. The nerves kick in a little, but then Jonas meets his eyes and that warm smile is back.

They both give Even a nod.

“Cool. You go first,” Even says, pointing at Jonas.

 

LEVEL 1 - THE BASICS

Mikael doesn’t know if he’s relieved or disappointed to be going second. The guy rolls his eyes at Even, pushing himself up in his chair. He’s got this yellow beanie on, and Mikael can see some of his curls peeking out. He doesn’t look particularly excited to be here, or to see Mikael. He resolves to change the guy’s mind.

“Alright,” he mumbles. “Your name is Marcus, and this is your story.”

He got the first letter right, Mikael muses. Solid start.

“You’re 23 years old.” He pauses like he’s waiting for permission to continue. Mikael gives him an encouraging nod.

“You study film, and you have a part-time job as a barista. But not a Starbucks one, like, a pretentious independent one, right?”

He laughs to himself a little before continuing, “Your cultural slash ethnic background is Moroccan.” He shrugs in a half ‘I don’t know,’ half ‘I’m sorry’ gesture.

Endearing little shit.

“Not terrible,” Mikael muses. “Alright, so, my name is Mikael. I’m 22 years old.” The guy’s eyebrows shoot up at that one. “Aw, thanks.”

“I study photography. You got the camera-holding bit right, so, go you. I have a part-time job, but I’m not a barista. I’m a sales assistant at this rug and carpet store.”

The guy snorts.

“Hey, fuck you.”

“No! I’m laughing at myself, I promise. I really suck at this,” he says. “How did you get into the carpet industry?”

“Oh my Jesus.” Mikael runs his hands through his hair. “Basically, one of my mom’s friend’s friends owns this store and they needed staff and part-time carpet vending pays pretty well, so, that’s- that’s how I found my great life passion.”

“You touched my heart,” he responds.

“Asshat.”

“Ok, c’mon,” he says, “We’ve got like, seventy four more questions to go.”

“Yes, sir! Oh, and you got the Moroccan thing right.”

Mikael braces himself with a little dramatic clearing of the throat. “Your name is Ruben, and this is your story. You’re 21 years old. You study law, and you have a part-time job as a cashier in a record store. Your cultural or ethnic background is half Norwegian half Ecuadorian.”

“I...wow,” he responds. “Ok so I take back the thing that I said about me being bad at this. Ruben? Really?”

Mikael laughs. “How would I know? Let’s be real, how many people will actually get that question right? Might as well have fun and give you the whitest, most Norwegian name I could think of.”

“Wouldn’t that be like, Magnus, though?”

Mikael opens his mouth to argue, but stops himself. “Shit. You’re right.”

“Ha.” Mikael giggles a little at his deadpan delivery.

“Ok, my name is Jonas. I’m 20 years old. I’m half Norwegian, half Colombian. I study sociology and I have a part-time job at...” He does a drum roll on his clipboard. “Lush.”

“You work at Lush? The fuck?” Mikael leans out of his chair to look at Even, making a series of ‘did you know this’ and ‘is he lying to me’ facial expressions and hand gestures.

“Yes! Okay, listen,” Jonas reaches out for Mikael’s knee. “Ethical spending in our society is near impossible, right? So is ethical working. In order to keep prices low and lifestyles like our affordable, people work in unsafe factories with toxic materials for basically no pay. I think at the absolute minimum, we owe it to ourselves and society at large to minimise the violence that we fund. I’m not saying that Lush is some sort of saintly company that can do no wrong, but at least they try. The materials are recyclable and biodegradable and the ingredients are ethically sourced and safe and yeah, it’s insanely overpriced but that money goes back to people working in production. I think that in before college, I did a lot of talking about the problems of capitalism and very little action. It’s something I’m trying to work on. At least this way, I’m minimising damage, right? It’s not the ideal situation, and I’m fully aware it makes me sound like more of a pretentious jerk than the sociology major does, but at least I’m doing better than like, a McDonald’s.”

There’s a challenge in Jonas’s eyes, like he expects this speech to scare him off. Jonas’s hand is still on Mikael’s knee. Mikael wants to put his hand on top of it, but he doesn’t.

They’re still in the Basics section and Mikael needs to calm down.

“Also, I’m a sucker for a sparkly bath bomb,” Jonas adds.

 

LEVEL 2 - FIRST DATE QUESTIONS

“Your favourite emoji is the, how do I say this out loud? The done looking one, like the ‘ugh’ emoji,” Jonas fidgets with his beanie, pulling it lower on his head.

“Yeah, no, I get which one you mean. You’re doing great, babe. Go on.” Jonas tries to kick Mikael, but misses, and shoves Mikael’s chair with his foot instead.

“In highschool, you would describe yourself as reserved, and if you got go anywhere in the world, you would go to Hong Kong.”

Over the course of their conversation, both of Mikael’s legs have ended up in his chair, and now he sits contorted with one leg under him, one crossed and swung over the opposite arm of the chair, clipboard barely balanced, tilting back and forth on his knee. He reminds Jonas of those pictures of cats shoved into small boxes or vases. It’s cute as hell and Jonas is dying, just a little bit.

“Oh,” Mikael muses, “I hadn’t thought of Hong Kong. Your answer might actually be better than mine. Can I change my answer to that?”

“Do it,” Jonas nods, “More points for me.”

“There’s a point system here?”

“I don’t know, maybe.”

“Then congrats. Ok, yeah, anyway, my favourite emoji is actually the turtle emoji.”

Jonas makes a face, to which Mikael responds,“It’s an inside joke with my friend group from highschool. And speaking of highschool, back in the day I would describe myself as, um,” Mikael pauses for a beat, “closeted?”

“Dude, too real.”

“Well, it’s the truth!” Mikael pulls his hair into a bun, missing a couple strands. Jonas’s heart skips more times than biology should allow. “I was very closeted and that wasn’t a lot of fun.”

“You wanna expand on that?” Jonas tries.

“Maybe later.”

“Ok.”

There’s a beat of silence that Jonas isn’t sure how to fill. Instead, he watches in silence as Mikael drifts off, scanning the scuffed, white studio floors.

“It’s your turn, Mikael.”

He snaps out of his trance, throwing Jonas a shy smile. “Here we go - Your favourite emoji is the middle finger. In highschool, you would describe yourself as the lazy genius kind of guy. And if you could travel anywhere in the world, you would go for backpacking across South America. Kinda like, start from home and then make your way around, I guess.”

Jonas nods, looking pleased and snapping his fingers like he’s at a poetry slam. Mikael tries not to smile, but fails and opts to hide behind his clipboard.

“I think I’ll give you the emoji one. The middle finger is definitely up there. In highschool, I would describe myself as a stoner, and maybe a bit of a lazy genius but I think the weed is a pretty important element of my story.”

Mikael snorts, “God, you’re terrible.”

“And if I could travel anywhere in the world,” Jonas continues, “I would- I don’t think there’s a specific place I wanna see. It’s more what I do and who I go with. Backpacking sounds pretty fun, maybe a road trip with a small group of friends.”

“Seriously? Nowhere?”

“Nowhere.”

“You might just be the only person on the face of the without a dream travel destination. I feel like I should go donate you to a museum or something.”

Jonas throws his head back in laughter.

 

LEVEL 3 - HEAVYWEIGHT

“You grew up practising Islam, and you are most grateful for your loved ones in your life. It is important to you that your children are raised without religion.”

Jonas’s eyes don’t lift from the page as he reads.

“I- Oh boy, alright. I grew up practising Islam. I’m most grateful for my friends, because as great as family is I- they made me feel alienated at a time in my life when I really needed support and- yeah, I’m most grateful for my friends.” Mikael notices himself tap at the clipboard quicker and quicker.

“Is this related to the coming out situation from earlier?”

“Yeah. I actually started questioning my gender before my sexuality and that was absolutely terrifying, because after thinking about it I couldn’t really stop. I didn’t really feel like either manhood or womanhood, um, encompassed the entirety of what I felt, I guess. And that was scary because by choosing a more obscure identifier, I felt like I was kind of buying into the whole ‘they’re coming out for attention and to make themselves look special’ shtick. And being in a religious and more conservative family meant I grew up with this omnipresent pressure of being a guy who will one day marry a girl. Yet, here I was, not really a guy and definitely not interested in marrying a girl. So yeah, I think that having friends who were out and friends who were supportive was a big part of what helped me navigate that.”

“I’m, uh, I’m really glad you had that.” Jonas offers, “So, pronouns?”

Mikael beams. “He, she, they, it’s all good.”

“Cool.”

“I have another question to answer, right? Oh, yup, it is important to me that my children are raised with religion.”

“That’s… Interesting. Alright, your turn.”

“I made it through! Okay. You grew up practicing Christianity. You are most grateful for your environment and opportunities and just kind of,” Mikael sighs, “your place in the universe or some shit like that. It is important to you that your children are raised without religion.”

“I like that place in the universe monologue, yeah, I’ll take it,”  Jonas muses. “But on the religion front you were super, super wrong. I grew up without a faith. My moms gave us options and choice about what my sister and I practiced or believed in, but growing up, their relationships with religion were kind of like yours, a little bit, I’d guess. So they didn’t want to push anything specific onto us and just kind of let us figure it out on our own. And I really appreciated that growing up, so I think it is important to me that my children are raised without religion.”

“You’ve got two moms?”

“Yep.”

“Oh, wow. Cool.”

“You said you wanted to raise kids with religion, right? I didn’t see that one coming. Care to share why?”

“I don’t think I want to like, straight up raise them Muslim, but I want it to be a spiritual home and I think, especially with the sort of worldwide reputation that Islam has, I want to present it as a good thing and as a beautiful thing to my kids, if I ever have them. I want my kids to grow up and see me praying five times a day, y’know?”

Jonas quirks a brow at him. “Do you actually pray five times a day?”

“Hell yeah, I do.”

“That’s impressive.”

“Why thank you,” Mikael says with a sarcastic toss of his hair. “But, uh, do you think that kind of religion is something you’d embrace in a home environment.”

“I think at first you scared me with the religion question in the beginning,” Jonas starts. “What I’m really against is, well, organised religion, I guess. I don’t like the idea of using a specific religion as a moral code for a kid and like, telling them that all the good things they do are for God and because of God and they should only strive to be good people for the sake of their salvation or anything like that. But I’m definitely not against being in a home with religion in it. And I’d want that to be, like, a frequent topic of conversation and not like, you’re religious but shut the fuck up about it cause these kids have to be raised without a faith.”

Mikael responds with a slow, pensive nod, aggressively ignoring the growing warmth in his chest. “I can live with that,” he says.

 

WILL YOU DATE ME?

“So, when I first saw you, I said I would date you,” Mikael starts.

They’re both smiling and trying to suppress it. Jonas feels his own smile grow as he watches Mikael’s. You would think, with five cameras pointed at them, this would feel less real, but here they are.

“After talking to you, I decided that I would still date you.”

Jonas smiles. “Dope.”

Mikael snorts, and Jonas rolls his eyes in response.

“Ok, so, don’t kill me, but when I first saw you, I said I wouldn’t date you. In my defence, I didn’t actually wanna be here, and I came here cause I’d get some cash out of it, so might as well not bother.”

Mikael pouts at him.

“But I learned the error of my ways,” Jonas says, dramatically flipping the page on his clipboard. “And after talking to you, I decided that I would date you.”

“Dope,” Mikael says, imitating Jonas’s voice.

Jonas gets up and offers a hand to Mikael, pulling him out of his chair. They’re standing close, too close, and Mikael leans ever-so-slightly on Jonas’s chest as he shakes out the stiffness from his legs.

“So, what are your thoughts on an ethically sourced lunch?”

Jonas laughs, but it gets caught in his throat when he feels Mikael’s nose graze his cheek.

“Are you one of those vegetable hating types?”

“Not even a little bit.”

“Awesome. There’s a place around the corner - mostly salads, but there’s wraps and shit, too. I’m like, 80% sure it’s Halal.”

“I’m pumped.”

Right before they walk off camera, Jonas grabs Mikael’s hand.

**Author's Note:**

> I've considered turning this into a series and writing about other skam pairings??? idk let me know what you think.


End file.
